[French West Indies]. BOYER-PEYRELEAU (Eugène-Edouard). Les - Lot 19

[French West Indies]. BOYER-PEYRELEAU (Eugène-Edouard). Les Antilles françaises, particulièrement la Guadeloupe, depuis leur découverte jusqu'au 1er janvier 1823. Paris, Brissot-Thivars, 1823. 3 vol. in-8, [2] f., VIII, 420 p. + [2] f., 466 p. + 530 p., stapled as issued and rebacked in a modern amateur binding, half-tan basane, smooth spine, title and appendices (spines slightly rubbed, some rare browning and russetting). First edition, illustrated with a large fold-out lithographed map of Guadeloupe, drawn by Desmadryl frères and Joumar, and 14 fold-out tables. Colonel Eugène Edouard Boyer-Peylerau (1774-1856), first spent seven years in Martinique as aide-de-camp to Villaret-Joyeuse. Promoted to squadron leader, he recaptured Fort du Diamant from the English in 1805 and defended Fort Bourbon against them in January 1809. He returned to France when the island was surrendered. Appointed deputy governor of Guadeloupe during the Restoration, it was he who regained possession of the island. In a lengthy historical introduction, he studies the different populations of the West Indies, the development of the Code Noir, the slave trade and work in sugar mills. His work focuses on Guadeloupe, for which he provides extensive statistical information (trade, population) and a new, more accurate map. (Sabin 7135; Leclerc 197).